Doing away with end of year rollover?

I was just told by a Marriott representative that Marriott is doing away with the end of year rollover of extra nights. Do mostly to credit card nights, now being done away with, I have over 200 nights this year. If true, this means that I will lose credit for over 100 nights at the end of the year, and will start with zero nights next year. Does anyone else know if this is true?

With Elite Rollover Nights, any nights earned in excess of Elite requirements can be applied toward retaining your status the following year or may help you achieve a higher Elite level faster. 2017 is the last year members can earn Elite Rollover nights. This means any 2017 nights earned in excess of Elite requirements will roll over to 2018 but excess nights earned in 2018 will not roll over to 2019.

I could have sworn that change happened this year and 2018 was the last year for rollover nights. I was looking forward to starting next year with 25 to 30 nights again.

Rollover nights are calculated based on the number of nights a member has earned in excess of the nights required to renew at their current level or to achieve a higher level

Rollover nights benefit members who renew at their current status or achieve a higher status

If a member achieves a higher status than their current level (Silver to Gold, Gold to Plat), the additional nights beyond the newly achieved threshold will be rolled over

If a member downgrades to a lower status (e.g., Plat to Gold, Gold to Silver) there would be no rollover nights

Rollover nights expire after one calendar year

This is the last year members can earn Elite Rollover nights. This means any 2017 nights earned in excess of Elite requirements will roll over to 2018 but excess nights earned in 2018 will not roll over to 2019.

Sorry to pile on, but yes, 2017 was the last year of rollovers, so your nights in excess of 75 won’t count towards next year.

Marriott seems to be thinning the upper levels of the elite herd here. Between Marriott and Starwood there were numerous shortcuts to status, but the axe has fallen heavily, Rollovers gone, multiple credit card night-stacking gone, stay based qualification gone, multiple rooms counting as elite nights gone, status buyback gone, heck the new credit cards don’t earn elite nights any longer, a very clear statement of intent, as if we needed any more!

Prior to the new scheme being announced in Spring, there was much speculation that Marriott would use the opportunity of the merger to thin out the 50-night status benefits, instead its chosen to axe the shortcuts making 50-nights more difficult to reach and introduced a new mid-tier between the 10-night giveaway level (all the free credit cards worldwide provide at least 10 EQNs) and 50+ night top levels. It accomplishes the same thing but also has the effect of making lifetimes tougher too, since a key component there is the nights requirement...

I agree its ultimately going to reduce the number of elites (starting in 2020), but I think it focuses it back to the original intent of actually staying in hotels for annual status. Its a bigger game changer on the lifetime side as now the formula is more specific.

On the lifetime side (not count PP) that have probably made it easier for the stable business traveler in general to get to the lifetime 50 night level (LTP) than before, assuming one earn primarily by staying in hotels

Old requirements were 600 nights 1.6 m points, if you are using a Branded CC to pay for the hotel, but not must else,

assuming as case were you did this over 10 years (average 45 nights year) you would have needed an average room rate over 225.00 per night staying at 10 point per night properties, to meet it minimally.

If you got no night contribution from the CC (but still the old 5x) the rate would be closer to 150.00

(tougher as in my case when hundreds of my nights came from RI and until a few years ago I could put the hotel on a personal credit card)

Under the new rules its 600/10, in the above case the person makes Platinum as well but spend doesn't matter.

You could also make it in 10 years, but you can now get it was less total nightsas long as it more stable,

The biggest change is you can not longer make it fast or slow, you have to have 10 strong years no matter what

The days of making Plat from 3 huge years of Road Warrior life are gone, and I think that is a negative, since people who put in tons of nights in quickly are likely to be reliable guests in future.

Also gone is the leisure traveler who spend larger money every year but only did ~20 nights year, it may have taken them 20 years to make it but it was possible and those people were implicitly reliable guests.

They sure did make it easier to reach the 50 night lifetime level than before! At least for people like me. I maintained my Gold status almost from the get go as soon as I joined Marriott rewards. Plenty of business travel the first five years...then occasional business and mostly pleasure for the rest. I also used the credit card heavily. I had the nights for LTG but still I was not even to a million points before the merger, so in fact had not even achieved LTS in the old program. After the merger I am automatically new LTG and after this year I will be 62 nights from new LTP. I had to pinch myself when I realized this. I should get that in 2020, which will be convenient as hell given that I may retire in 2021.

So I guess if you were consistent over the years you get rewarded in the new program. I was never a Road Warrior, only going over 50 nights actually spent in hotels a couple of times. Credit card bonus nights and even rollover helped me keep Gold a few times.

Absolutely true brightlybob, but you forgot to mention that they also did away with the Rewarding Events shortcut, dropping it down to only counting for one meeting. That's one that yours truly used 5 times this summer to get me closer to LTPP (only one night away now).

We'll see if they actually "thin the herd" as you put it, but that certainly seems to be the intent.

Sadly, I have been in Rewards for a very long time (21 years and > 2800 nights). I remember Marriott introducing roll over nights (I think it was in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis) as an effort to reward their most loyal members following the massive drop in business travel. At the time, they said it was only a temporary measure - just stayed for 10 years. And of course, recent joiners will not have been aware of this.

I think the latest move is in response to customers stacking up status levels very rapidly and therefore not being able to differentiate as well between guests.

It might also be to reduce the overall level of points awarded and then redemption nights.

The other thing I have noticed is the erosion of LTPP - used to be 5 or 10 years in the scheme, >1000 nights and > 2m points

Welcome fellow Brit! Although not as long in the tooth Marriotteer as you, I too do remember the rollovers being introduced as a one-off measure during the recession and was extended to a second year before becoming a fixture.

And yes, I remember when I first heard of the lifetime program, Lifetime Platinum (now Plat Premier) was 12 years, 1,000 nights and 3,000,000 points!

One that M got rid of which shocked me was earning status for travel of 12 months, not necessarily a calendar year, this ended 2010 or so. I had stopped travelling and then started in Oct, hit 70 nights in 3 months and knew I had PLT status until end of Jan, which I would jump well over the 75 nights. I was so peeved when I was dropped to Gold. I was told too bad. My wife called and talked to someone who looked at the record and put me back to PLT.

Maybe they went to far with the 10 year rule, but on the other hand it was possible to achieve lifetime platinum in about 16 or 17 months if one was an extreme road warrior. Maybe that was fair but on the other hand it really does make the concept of lifetime something not what they thought of.

I won’t miss rollover nights because I seldom took advantage of it. My target was either 50 or 75 nights per year, so if I made it to 75, it was unlikely I went much over that because that was quite a struggle to reach!

i too was 150 - 170 nights a year and had looked forward to rollover nights. So now since they are gon once i reach my 100 nghts for Platinum Premier Elite with ambassador service, i will now be using other brands, hilton, holiday Inn, Bestwestern, etc. to boost a secondary hotel rewards program.once you hit a hundred nights your maxed out on benefits other than points, so i see using a second chain to buid secondary rewards..

I will now be using other brands, hilton, holiday Inn, Bestwestern, etc. to boost a secondary hotel rewards program.

Friendly reminder that Best Western instantly awards a Status Match (without challenge) simply by sending them an email. With some screen shots of your Marriott PP+Amb status will probably get you Diamond at least and probably even Diamond Select.